SAEC 308N vs 308SX

Dear lewm, dear Nandric, dear Geoch, for those wondering about the odd geometry on many SAEC tonearms ( see 506 for instance ...). SAEC stated that these tonearms geometry was optimized for zero distortion in the inner grooves.
This wasn't smart.
However if used as a tonearm to play 7" singles, these SAEC's geometry shines in a all new light .......
Whatever motivation it was that prompted SAECs engineers to design some of it's tonearms with a very odd geometry, they can all be "re-adjusted" to Baerwald/Loefgren/Stevenson et al - if however at the expense of sometimes very odd off-set position in headshell/mount and altered breakdown torque with effects on skating force.
Cheers,
D.

Dear Nicola or anyone else, What do you think was meant by the statement you quoted: "it is not advised to optimize the geometry, or the resonance of the system will change to such an extent that the arm will not track properly."

What does that mean, exactly? What is the definition of "optimize" in that sentence? It would seem that they mean one should use the recommended and indeed strange SAEC parameters and that the warning not to "optimize" means not to use one of the more standard geometries, each of which gives two null points between outermost and innermost grooves.

Dear Daniel, What kind of German are you? I thought, because of Wagner, that you are very fond of all kinds of mythology. Do you really need to destroy the SEAC kind?
Never in my life I was so dependant from a sufix. Ie I hope
that my 407/23 and more in particular the sufix '23' is something 'totally different' in the SEAC brand (aka the Bearwald geometry). You should postpone your answer till I
sell the thing(please!).

Regards,

Dear Lew, 'Dear Nicola or anyone else' is not to the liking
of my 'super ego'. I am alas not an expert in kinematics, have, to be honest, no idea what 'kinematics' means so you are overating me in one aspect of the issue while underating me in some other. My idea is that you should design some
other tonearm base for your second arm on your beloved Kenwood.Ie this SEAC enigma is developing from bad to worst.
Regards,

Dear Nicola, I do not think so badly of the SAEC 308, just because of the weird geometry. As I said, the very small angle of offset of the headshell (12 degrees) means that there will be less skating force than for any of the standard geometries (where offset angle is at least 20 degrees). This may mitigate any issues with tracking angle types of distortion. Also, I have the RS Labs RS A1 tonearm, which has NO null points across the surface of the LP, and sounds excellent. So I am not so concerned about tracking angle distortion per se. Anyway, based on what Raul wrote, the 308SX, 407/23, and 506 are "cousins". But now I am thinking that maybe the "23" refers to the angle of offset of the headshell. Twenty-three degrees would correspond to Baerwald or Lofgren. In that way, you are ok with your 407/23. Maybe this is also why the 407/23 is so costly now, compared to the 308s. In fact, it would be informative if you can take a protractor and estimate the angle of offset of the headshell on yours.